Join the Fine Arts Work Center for a virtual conversation with artist Sam Messer and writer Will Blythe next Thursday, May 6th, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event is part of the continuing series “Opening to Wonder: Creative Conversations on the Visual Arts.”

Messer and Blythe will compare their experiences collaborating with the late poet Denis Johnson. Messer — a painter, sculptor, and animator — worked with Johnson on the short films Denis the Pirate and Reflecting on Red Darkness. Blythe, who wrote To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever, a book about the Carolina-Duke basketball rivalry, is the editor of Why I Write, a collection of essays by Denis Johnson, Joy Williams, Darius James, Ann Patchett, and Norman Mailer. Registration for the event is $25 minimum donation at fawc.org.